What type of midwife did you/do you have? - Page 2

[homewithtwinsmama]

My midwife is a CPM and herself a vbac mama (for breech too). She does a lot of vbacs. In our state CPMs are not legal and the CNMs are prevented from doing vbacs at home or in birth centers. So if you want a hbac you have to choose a CPM. He is not being supportive if he is telling you that you can only have an unavailable option. I am of the school of thought that says "no vagina no vote", but then I don't have to deal with a husband who has ever tried to influence my decisions about handling my labor/births.

[Ladybyrd]

My midwife is a CPM. She's been practicing since the '70s and has attended about 2400 births. Of those births, she's attended about 200 breech births. I have every confidence in her, and was very happy to have her at my last homebirth.

[ghuaghua]

My situation was very similar to yours. I had a traumatic c-section for my daughter's birth, and decided to go the home birth route for my son's birth.
Initially, because it was a VBAC, I had decided that I wanted a CNM. I did a lot of research, and talked to a friend who had a home birth with a local CPM, and after meeting her and the other midwives at her practice-I decided that was the way to go.
There was a CPM and two DEM's who came to my birth, and it went incredibly well!
Good luck!

[rad]

I had a CNM for my first 4. I did really like her but she was much more medically minded. I didn't know any different until this last pg. I just knew she was better than an OB/Gyn. My last baby I had a CPM (not licensed here) and I really loved her. She was much more hands off then the CNM, which is something I really prefer. She really followed my cues. She was also very knowledgable and I felt comfortable with her ability if something came up. Since DS had some breathing issues after he was born, DH and I were very happy to have her there with us.

[Spark]

I use a lay or direct-entry mw. I'm in a non-licensing state.

In general I prefer that the lay mw hasn't HAD to perform all kinds of interventions X amount of times just to get a CNM license. That said, there are PLENTY of lay MWs who are fear-based, who are very interventionist with their work & medically minded. And, then there are PLENTY of CNMs who are more natural and hands off. So, it just depends.

I like the lay MW we use for sure, but I think why I like her depends more on who she is than the acronym behind her name.

[MsBlack]

To my knowledge, Arkansas does train and license direct entry (non-nurse) mws. Perhaps if your dh understood that, it would make this decision easier for him? With decent midwifery training, one does NOT need to be a nurse to be able recognize and deal with problems or potential/emerging problems. CNMs are definitely NOT the only mws able to bring professional skills, with that measure of safety, to homebirth. If you look into it, I'm sure you'll be able to find a STate Mws Association; and actually if you call the main Ph # of your state gov't, you can get a line to whatever State Dept is in charge of regulating/overseeing all licensed professions. If in doubt, ask any doc or nurse how to find this dept. From there you can see exactly what kind of training and skills are required of licensed mws there.

good luck!

[KBinSATX]

I had a Licensed Midwife, not a CNM. In my area CNMs work in hospitals and don't do homebirths. I felt my midwives were well schooled and competent (hence I am using them again for baby #2)

[beaches1098]

When I gave birth my mw was a DEM with 7 years experience she is now a CPM. It did not matter to me that she was not a CPM at the time because it was her knowledge and personality not the initials after her name that made me have trust in her. She is wonderful and I now apprentice with her. There are some CPM's out there that I would never click with and maybe don't have as much experience.

[applejuice]

My midwife was licensed in three other states, but not in CA. Here she was a laymidwife.

She was excellent, nonetheless. She batted 100% for me. No complaints.

Midwives were technically not legal in CA at the time of my first two births...and no lay midwives were legal for my other two births.

[the_lissa]

There are no such things as CNMs where I live.

[paradoxia13]

There are 2 midwifes in the practice I go to. One is a CNM, and the other a LM. They are both great women and I feel totally comfortable and happy with both of them.

[LolaK]

I don't think that nursing school makes much of a difference. I think experience and attitude are much more important.

[xixstar]

We have a CPM and they're technically not allowed in our state. But we're very comfortable and happy with her an have no worries about her capabilities with all her experience.

[Kim919]

I live in NYS and there is only one midwife who is legal to attend home births in my area. She is a CNM, and thank goodness (sense I had no other choice) she is WONDERFUL. I would take a lot of interest in how many births your midwife has attended, I agree with a poster above who mentioned that expeirence is much more important then letters. I think it all depends on your comfort level.

Ask a lot of questions, that really helped me (this is my 1st baby) The women who will assist my midwife, and attend the birth by herself should the need arise (2 births at once, sickness, etc.) Is not a CNM, but I met her thursday and even though I really hope that my midwife will be there, I also felt comfortable with the second midwife. She is much younger, but seemed very educated and answered all my questions completely. I really hope they are both there when the day comes.

I think you need to be comfortable with the person and feel safe under their guidence.

[barefootpoetry]

I had CNMs for my nightmare intervention-filled hospital birth that ended with a C-section. This time around it'll be a CPM or LM. I don't think CNMs can attend homebirths here (VA).

[CanidFL]

Mine was a LM with 20 years paramedic experience and 10 years midwifery experience. She was awesome and I would trust her with my life. I would prefer a LM to CNM any day.

[Xenopus]

She was an RN first and got certified as a CNM later. She's a LM in our state.

She's awesome.